Wildcats return home for Invitational

Under perfect weather, the Taft boys and girls track and field teams competed in one of their biggest meets Saturday when they hosted the Wildcat Invitational.

BoysAs a team, the Wildcats finished fourth out of seven teams with 74.5 points. Frontier was first with 169.5 points.

Jacob Lopez and Levi Flud had the best finish among the Wildcat runners by coming in third Lopez was third in the 100 meters with a mark of 11.89. Wasco’s Carlos Morfin finished first with a time of 11.89.

Meanwhile, Flud was third in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 44.65. Frontier’s Gabriel Gacta won with a time of 42.63.

Donovan Watrous was sixth in the 800 meters with a time of 2:21.67 while Jose Moron was sixth in the 400 meters with a time of 55.33. Moron also was 11th in the 200 meters with a time of 24.96.

In the 4x400 relay, Watrous, Eric Bailey, Moron and Flud were fourth with a time of 3:49.46.

Lopez had the highest finish in the field events with a mark of 37-11.50. Iakopo was fifth in the long jump with a mark of 16-03.

Eric Bailey was third in the shot put with a mark of 44-08 while Steven Gee was third in the high jump with a mark of 5-06.

Zack Gable was second in the pole vault with a mark of 10-00 while Cesar Guerrero was third with a mark of 9-00.

GirlsAs a team the Lady Wildcats came in fifth with 75 points. Bakersfield Christian won with 148 points.

Samantha Morrow had the highest finish among the Lady Wildcats by placing second in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 20.08.

Jana Gaehl was sixth in the 800 meters with a time of 2:50.77 while Abby Xancale was eighth in the same race with a time of 2:54.28.

Xancale was seventh in the 1600 meters with a time of 14:33.67. Meanwhile, Jennifer Chamale was fifth in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 20.74. Morrow was sixth in the 2K steeplechase with a time of 10:15.02.

Jacqueline Summers finished sixth in the discus and shot put with marks of 28-07 and 88-04.

Ashley Carr was seventh in the discus with a mark of 84-05 while Taylan Erro was fifth in the high jump with a mark of 4-02.

Morrow was third in the pole vault with a mark of 7-00. Karina Amaya is third in the long jump with a mark of 13-09. Amaya was also fourth in the triple jump with a mark of 27-04.50.

Taft returns to action Saturday when they compete in the Dinuba Invitational in Dinuba. The meet begins at 3 p.m.